Running, fitness and urban exploration.

I like your contribution Rabbit teeth.

After supper here I think I'll take a look back in the archives & see if there are any health threads we should resurrect. Things like vaccinations, laser eye surgery, and other types of "health preps" are worthy of discussion.

RT,

Excellent points.

I was just out on the weekend - bike, hike and a little cave exploring. It was a good day. It also reminded me how I much prefer to travel by bike than on foot. That does not mean I cannot move footborne, I just prefer to roll whenever possible.

I applaud you for having the self-discipline to traverse by foot back & forth to work. You set the example for others to follow. Good work.

Cheers,

Mountainman.

The fitness aspect of bugging out on foot or bike has been brought up before, but a conversation rarely seems to catch. The main points made were that some people have trouble walking up 10 flights of stairs, let alone a 100+ trek on foot with a fully loaded BOB through the wilderness. physical training is PARAMOUNT not only for a prepper, but for everyone. Asside from the improved quality of life, health, and mental well being associated with it, you never know when your survival might depend on it.

Anyone who thinks they can just pack up a 50-100 lb rucksack and march all day without being in shape is in for a rude awakening. and I will be right behind you picking up all the stuff you toss out of your bag along the way to lighten the load 😆

Also, good point about learning your surroundings, especially for us preppers that are in the city. I know the roads here like the back of my hand, but if I was on foot I would have a tough time avoiding major thoroughfares. I will definatley have to fix that issue. Thanks for the tip.

Anyone who thinks they can just pack up a 50-100 lb rucksack and march all day

you don't have to carry it on your back. You can use something like this:

http://www.sportsmansguide.ca/net/cb/guide-gear-deer-cart.aspx?a=351879

Thank you all for your responses. I'm glad to see a few like-minded individuals.

forward - Health preps are a very good point to consider, thank you very much for pointing it out. I was out for a 2 week backcountry camping trip last year, and 6 days into the trip, the crown of my lower molar chipped off(one of the farthest teeth at the back) while I was eating some old trail mix. It broke away to reveal a large cavity (floss often!). Needless to say, it was a miserable and excruciating 8 more days before I was back in civilization. I lost 12 lbs on that trip, and I had to make a makeshift mortar-pestle to crush every meal into a watery paste.

Buggie and prom - Fitness is one thing that is often overlooked, mostly because our culture relies heavily on store-bought aids. I don't have anything against equipment that helps make our tasks easier - in fact superior equipment has been proven to be a game changer in everything from farming to military. However, with all due respect, prom, the deer cart isn't the point. Having underlying fitness is still critical. It is impossible to predict if/when your equipment will fail.

Even a 40 km hike with no backpack or cart can be challenging to those who aren't in shape. What more if there are 2 more days of that type of hiking involved? Take a moment to let the full gravity of the task set in. What if the terrain goes from paved road to hilly singletrack trails? I'd argue that it is irresponsible (to yourself and to those that are relying on you) to fall back on the notion that "I'll manage it, if I am forced into that situation." The best way to find out is to test it. We test our gear beforehand so that we're familiar with its uses and limitations - consider your body (and mind/skills) to be your most important gear that can never be taken away from you.

Peace

RabbitTeeth,

Excellent point about mindset and fitness.

One of my best one day performances was a re-supply hike with my Dad. We and some others were camped near Berg Lake - behind Mount Robson. We hiked out and back in, in one day. That was 42km's. 11 hours 45 minutes. Not less than 5600' elevation change over the whole trip. We had one pack that we shared. It was a great hike.

So, you need to accomplish two feats in your preps. First, like RabbitTeeth and buggie said, you need to be in shape! Second, you need to test yourself and your gear, how far can you go, no really - HOW FAR CAN YOU GO??? You are not doing this for me or anyone else on this Forum. You are doing this for you. It is only way it can work. Once you know how far you can go, under what conditions, with no distractions - then and only then, can you say how far you can bugout on foot. Once you have done it and you know how it feels you gain the mindset of what is possible. Then once in awhile you need to go out and break your old mindset and build a new one. A mindset that takes you farther, with a heavier pack, over rougher trails.

Cheers,

Mountainman.

Everyone in our group needs to read this, this is a topic I have been thinking about for some time, and myself and gc-mountainman have brought up and talked about several times, along with some others....I cant stress enough the importance of being in good physical shape to Carry a pack in the event you needed to bug out on foot....
I actually just clocked the city on deerfoot from the Bow river bridge in the south to cross iron mills it's 50 km, so every thing being close to equal from the center of the city you have 25 km to hike and get clear of the city...This is no easy task if you are packing your 72 hour kit.....And if you are travelling at night to avoid detection you had better know the routes to take and be able to navigate by compass and or G.P.S....

I envy you Rabbit Teeth and admire your determination to being ready. I really hope I am at my home if things start to happen. My health is bad and a lot of days walking even a block is too much for me pain-wise. But, I am working to improve things. I hope that everyone that has the ability will get in the best shape they can.

mountainman and traveller - Thank you for your contribution to this thread. Your words are very inspiring and I hope it catches on with others on the forum. For many, it may seem like a monumental and overwhelming task to get started, but nothing happens overnight. Just like the rest of our preparedness kit, it starts small and slowly builds over time. The key is consistency.

Joy29not - Please forgive the question, but is your health issue age-related, a medical disorder, sports injury or weight-related? I hope your health improves in the near future. If it helps, many of my first-time cadets could barely jog for 15 minutes, or do a single push-up on the first day, but none of them failed their final PT (physical training) tests to graduate 4 months later. 😉 That included a 35 minute 6 km run (running as a platoon), 40 straight clipped push-ups, and a 3 min 15 sec run through our obstacle course. The things guys can accomplish when someone is yelling down the back of their necks!

Thanks for your interest Rabbit Teeth-how I wish you could yell away my problems! I have Lupus and fibromyalgia. I do push myself as hard as I can. Like today I was in bad shape and spent most of the day in bed, but when I could this evening I got busy and did some physically demanding work that I wanted to get done. I find that having projects to do that are physical seems to help keep me focused and ignoring the pain. I have a lot of things I want to do prepper-wise at my home so that will help me improve my strength. I am living in town while my daughter finishes highschool, so between driving her around (she has health issues) and driving my 88 yr old Dad around, I am driving a lot. I notice it really doesn't do me any good, so I'll have to try and get home and work on things more often.

Great Thread! I only really got into being fit about 2 years ago. I run 3 times weekly (almost to 10k!) and do bootcamp twice a week. Me and some friends really love obstacles races and it seems we are always training for something. I actually love obstacle racing and in my mind it's post collapse training at it's finest! I've noticed that the two ends of the spectrum are most prevailant among preppers, people are either VERY into fitness (military style) or not at all. I also take my kids out with their BOBs often, to see if they can carry it well and need less/more weight. My kids are still young enough that a walk to our meeting places is fun, and we try out a different route almost every time. When we don't do a "meeting spot walk" we do geocaching. Geocaching has introduced a number of skills to my kids in a really fun way. I think it's really important to be in good shape and although I always seem to have my own setbacks (injury prone) I always have something I'm trying to improve, some sort of fitness goal.

I'm a big fan of running. I've been at it since my forth year at the U of L and never really stopped except to recover from running injury (20 years of running now). That being said, I know well that it's not for everyone. I don't think you have to be able to run a marathon in order to be prepared. Living as close as we do to K Country, why not see if hiking is your bag? Snow shoeing in winter is a blast, and cross country skiing is an option as well. If you are looking for a more tame way to start, instead of making the kids walk the dog, make them wash the dishes and take the pooch out yourself 😉 .

Cheers,

Antsy

(I'm re-starting this thread so that the mods can merge it with the existing one over in the Alberta forums... I believe it will be more useful here - and reach a wider viewer/contributor base.)

First of all, I'm on this forum to learn from others, but I'm also hoping that I can make a contribution that has at least some value. I hope this contribution doesn't rub anyone the wrong way. We're never experts - only students.

My prepper mentality is first and foremost influenced by running and fitness. In the military (note, it wasn't Canada or the US), we had to often traverse large swaths of land, without lagging behind, and yet still carrying gear. Tropical rainforest recon has been the toughest mental task I've ever had to perform, but I can see now just how useful it can be for a prepper.

Currently, I run 10 km to work (20 km roundtrip) on Mon-Wed-Fri with a pared down version of my BOB, daily lunch, and 3L camelbak. Every day, I take a slight detour and explore hidden bike paths, trails through dense park trees, and even different ways in/out/through/around the downtown core and inner city. It is relaxing, and at the same time it has provided a side benefit of knowing the quickest and safest routes in or out of the inner city on foot, especially with the least visibility from the road. It seems to be a great tool for increasing navigation and familiarity with the city. A friend of mine went for a bike ride with me a few weeks ago, and she wasn't aware of the intricate river pathway system that can get you from Bowness all the way to McKenzie Lake.

When 9/11 happened out east, it was impossible to get anywhere by car. The roads were parking lots, and the only way to get anywhere was either on foot or by bike.

Therefore, I prize fitness as a very valuable commodity - much more so than something you can buy on a store shelf. Are you confident you can hike out to your BOL if need be? Carrying the gear you've chosen? Have you tried it? Can you do it long before the sun sets?

Peace

Interesting topic that I was going to comment on before but didn't get around to doing.
Will get back to it very soon...maybe after making dinner 🙂

Okay dinner finished, eaten, showered and nearly ready for bed 😉

In my 20's I suffered a pulmonary embolism, then a number of heart attacks, and an aortic aneurysm 😕
Should have been six foot under before my 30th birthday!

What has amazed me is that from this position of near death I have regained my health and reached 40, which is not what the doctors thought, I believe their words went something like "If you make 40 you would have been in for a double heart bypass"....not very promising and thankfully not very true 😀

I recall Dick Proenneke said something like "Walk at a pace you can walk at all day"...which is what I have endeavored to do.
I know at present I can comfortably walk approx. 20km in a day, I haven't done a lot of running though.
I like to lift weights as I love being able to just pick things up without wondering if it is too heavy.
Apart from this the general farm work keeps me relatively fit.
We don't have a BOL and even if we didm chance is it would be greater than 20km away from home, planning a BOL is a bit different when already living in a rural area. If I lived in town I would really want a BOL a long way from town even if it took a week to walk to it.